The Pack
by Indigo-Night-Wisp
Summary: Director Vance has been thinking over Gibbs' team, and he's come to the conclusion that they're all just a little bit psychotic. The Director in Training Series 3.


**Disclaimer: If I owned them, there would be even more elevator-stopping scenes than there already are.**

**A/N: Final part to the DIT series. Leon Vance. So hard to hate, no matter how much you might want to.**

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><p>Leon Vance learned early on in his relationship with Agent Gibbs that to err may be human, but Gibbs has no aspirations to divinity and forgiveness is not given lightly or easily. Thin ice doesn't even begin to describe the precariousness of Vance's current position with Gibbs. The Director's chair isn't particularly comfortable, what with the MCRT leader breathing down his neck all the time and Jenny Shepard only buried six months ago. Leon is still trying to settle in as the Director of NCIS, and the odd quirks that Gibbs' team carry with them aren't helping him any.<p>

He's been reading the personnel files and reviews of the Major Crimes Response Team, and the official decision he's eventually reached is that they all have Issues.

Ziva, he's decided, probably needs some sort of anger management therapy. McGee _still _struggles with insecurity, despite having been an agent for nearly five years. Vance really isn't sure how to classify DiNozzo's problems because there are _just so many_. Ms. Scutio-Abby-well… she's far too cheerful to be any kind of mentally stable. He's beginning to think Ducky may have well and truly lost his mind, and Palmer is following hard on his heels with a happy smile on his innocent face.

And then there's Gibbs.

He's pretty sure that Gibbs is insane.

Not the sort of insane that you lock away and visit once a month on a free Saturday. Not the sort of insane that gets medicated up to the gills and then spends all day looking out a window and wearing a bathrobe. No, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs is the most dangerous sort of insane.

He's the kind you need.

Vance trusts Gibbs, which scares him almost as much as Gibbs has himself done on occasion. The man is clearly a little unhinged, especially when his people are in trouble, and trusting someone who would, without hesitation, do violence-perhaps fatally-to anyone he even thinks is thinking about hurting the ones he cares about is not necessarily the best idea in the world. But trust Gibbs, Vance does. He can't really help it. There's just something about Gibbs that makes you want to trust him.

That probably accounts for his team's instinctive suspicion of anyone else trying to gain their trust. Although he could have Director Shepard to thank for that as well. She did do a number on all of them.

He's come to the conclusion that they're all a little psychotic. They're rebellious, bordering on insubordinate. The only rules they follow are Gibbs', and he himself leads them on fearlessly. They're all jumping the gun one minute then yanking back on the E-brake the next. They're unpredictable-which is dangerous for a team of highly trained investigators-except for when one of them is in trouble. Then, they are all _too _predictable.

Good agents, all of them-even David, the "liaison." But-and he will never, _ever_ admit this to _anyone_-they scare him sometimes.

Crazy people usually do.

They're a pack, is what they are. A pack full of half-wolf, half-domesticated-puppy dogs. Sometimes this is good, sometimes this works. Sometimes, this is bad. When it's good, it's really good. And when it's bad… everything goes to That Bad Place faster than you can say, "Snappit."

Leon likes Gibbs. He likes his wit and his skill as an investigator, his keen insights into, well, everything. He even appreciates Gibbs' attitude towards bureaucracy. Doesn't always like how Gibbs expresses that attitude, but does appreciate it. He's proud to count the man amongst his agents, even more so amongst his friends. Leon likes Gibbs.

He's just not so keen on the package deal that comes with him.

Nothing personal. He doesn't _dis_like the others. But he knows where their loyalties lie, and it's not with him. And that makes them people to pay attention to.

There are rules when it comes to dealing with a pack. Don't turn your back. Don't run. They can smell fear.

And for goodness' sake, don't threaten one of them.

They'll turn on you in a heartbeat.

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><p><strong>AN: He's a friend to some, a dictator to others, a mentor to... well, just McGee, but all in all, he has the careers of at least two other directors to look back on and not make their mistakes, especially when dealing with Gibbs. He may be a good guy, and I like him well enough, but he gets no slack from me.**

**You know, this series was supposed to be funny. **

**It didn't really turn out that way. Watching season 6 while writing it probably has something to do with that. (Depressing season finale. It's mooding me up.) And yes, while writing "The Wolf," I was still on season 1. Time flies.**

**But it's over now, anyway. Shalom, all. **


End file.
